Wick structure of heat pipe

ABSTRACT

A wick structure is attached on an internal sidewall of a heat pipe. The wick structure is a one-layer woven wick. At least one weaving direction of the meshes of the woven wick contains a plurality of fiber bundles each including two more woven fibers to weave to a plurality of single fiber. As such, the fiber bundles of the one-layer woven wick provide enhanced capillary force like a multi-layer wick structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to a wick structure of a heat pipe, and more particularly, to a wick structure with enhanced capillary action to a heat pipe.

There are lots of device used for transferring heat in the industry. A heat pipe is widely in the form of a tube with one closed end and one open end. A wick structure is installed in the heat pipe and a working fluid is introduced into the heat pipe, followed by the process of sealing the open end. When the heat pipe is in contact with the electronic products, the heat absorbing end absorbs the heat from the electronic products, such that a phase transition from the liquid state to the gas state occurs to the working fluid. After flowing to the cooling end of the heat pipe, the gaseous working fluid is then condensed back to the liquid state and re-flows back to the heat absorbing end by the capillary effect provided by the wick structure. Therefore, the circulation and phase transition of the working fluid irritated in the heat pipe provides enhanced heat dissipation performance, such that the electronic product can always operate under a uniform and working temperature. Meanwhile, in order to enhance the capillary and transporting abilities of the wick structure, a multi-layer wick structure is used.

However, the multi-layer wick structure costs much more and may have the problem being curled to put inside a tubular member of the heat pipe. The curled wick structure may not reliably attach to the interior surface of the tubular member and may collapse during the sintering. Moreover, if the heat pipe is curved, due to each layer of the wick structures is different, the multi-layer wick may peel from each other.

Thus, there still is a need in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a wick structure of a heat pipe. The wick structure is a one-layer woven wick. The meshes of the woven wick are not formed in one-to-one fiber woven together. In stead, at least one weaving direction of the meshes contains a plurality of fiber bundles each including two more woven fibers to weave to a plurality of single fiber. That is, if the meshes are formed by a plurality of orthogonal transversal fibers and longitudinal fibers, preferably, the fibers in the longitudinal direction are formed in bundles each to weave to the single fiber in the transversal direction. As such, the fiber bundles of the one-layer woven wick can provide enhanced capillary force like a multi-layer wick structure.

Accordingly, the heat pipe of the present invention includes a tubular member and a wick structure attached to an interior surface of the tubular member. The wick structure is a woven wick with meshes formed by a plurality of fibers, at least one weaving direction of the meshes contains a plurality of fiber bundles including two more weaving fibers each to weave to a single fiber.

These and other objectives of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings therein:

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a heat pipe;

FIG. 2 shows an expanded view of a wick structure of the heat pipe according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of an A portion in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a cross sectional view of a heat pipe with the wick structure provide by the present invention; and

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged view of an A portion in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, which respectively show an exploded view of a heat pipe and an expanded view of a wick structure according to the present invention. The heat pipe 1 includes a tubular member 10 with a wick structure 11 attached on the internal sidewall thereof. The wick structure 11 is a one-layer woven wick formed by orthogonal or non-orthogonal meshes. The meshes includes a plurality of fiber bundle 110 and single fiber 111 as shown in FIG. 3. In the preferred embodiment, the meshes of the woven wick 11 include a plurality of orthogonal longitudinal fiber bundle 110 and a plurality of transversal single fibers 111. The weaving fiber bundle 110 and single fiber 111 are preferably made of metal material with higher thermal conductivity such as using copper lines to form a copper net of the woven wick.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the fiber bundle 110 includes two more fibers 1100. In the preferred embodiment, due to the meshes are orthogonal, the longitudinally weaving direction of the meshes is formed by the fiber bundles 110. In other cases, any weaving direction of the meshes can be formed by a plurality of fiber bundles. As such, the fiber bundles including more weaving fiber of the one-layer woven wick of the present can provide enhanced capillary force like a multi-layer wick structure. Because of the one-layer wick structure, the cost can be lowered. Moreover, one-layer wick structure is easier to put into the heat pipe 1 to be attached on the interior surface of the tubular member 10. Meanwhile, when the heat pipe 1 is curved, because the wick structure is as a whole an integral woven layer, no peeling will occur as happened in case of the multi-layer wick structure.

Furthermore, the fiber bundle 110 can be formed by twisting the fibers 1100 together. The sizes of the fiber 1100 and the single fiber 111 can be different, and/or the sizes of the fiber 1100 themselves can be different also.

Finally, the heat pipe 1 further includes a support member 12 for pressing the wick structure firmly attached to the tubular member 10, and/or providing extra capillary force to the heat pipe 1. The support member 12 can be formed by having a mesh structure, a spiral structure and a plurality of holes formed thereon.

This disclosure provides exemplary embodiments of wick structure of a heat pipe. The scope of this disclosure is not limited by these exemplary embodiments. Numerous variations, whether explicitly provided for by the specification or implied by the specification, such as variations in shape, structure, dimension, type of material or manufacturing process may be implemented by one of skill in the art in view of this disclosure. 

1. A heat pipe comprising a tubular member and a wick structure attached to an interior surface of the tubular member, wherein the wick structure is a woven wick with meshes formed by a plurality of fibers, at least one weaving direction of the meshes contains a plurality of fiber bundles including two more weaving fibers each to weave to a single fiber.
 2. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the meshes of the fibers are orthogonal.
 3. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the fibers are made of copper.
 4. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the weaving fibers includes a plurality of transversal fibers and a plurality of longitudinal fibers.
 5. The heat pipe of claim 4, wherein the longitudinal fibers are formed in a plurality of fiber bundles.
 6. The heat pipe of claim 4, wherein the transversal fiber and the longitudinal fiber are in different size.
 7. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein all the weaving fibers are formed in a plurality of fiber bundles.
 8. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the weaving fibers include at least two kinds of sizes.
 9. The heat pipe of claim 1, further comprising a support member pressing the wick structure firmly attached to the tubular member.
 10. The heat pipe of claim 9, wherein the support member has a mesh structure.
 11. The heat pipe of claim 9, wherein the support member has a spiral structure.
 12. The heat pipe of claim 9, wherein the support member has a plurality of holes formed thereon. 